What is an alternative to oversized switch? - java

I'm in the process of integrating a pseudo-search capability in my app. I have a search widget that gives out a list of search hints (these hints come from a fts3 sqlite table). When a user clicks on a search hint, a corresponding sqlite table will populate a listView.
I need a way to identify what table will populate the list based on the selected search hint. I'm thinking of doing something like this:
switch(search_hint){
case(search_hint_1): useTable(table_1);
break;
case(search_hint_2): useTable(table_2);
break;
case(search_hint_3): useTable(table_1 + table_2); // Case when I need to use
break; // two tables for ListView
}
I'm sure this is a possible solution but what if there are several (hundreds or thousands) of cases? Can anyone suggest a better way to face this?

If you can, make the mapping into an array of pairs of some sort, then you can just go through them all with a for-loop and an if. Similar to my suggestion in Refactoring repetitive guard statements.
You would need to create a pair like class that holds the hint and the table.
Either that, or create an actual map. and use search_hint as the key.
Map< /*insert hint type here*/,Table> mapTable;
For example.

I think the feasible way as per my thought.. Using HashMap Key-Value pair.. (Only Pseudo code)
Map<Integer,String> mapTable = new HashMap<Integer,String>();
mapTable.put(search_hint_1,table_1);
.
.
.
And just access useTable(mapTable.get(search_hint));

switch statement is an anti-pattern in object oriented design (see Object Thinking). You should use inheritance instead.

Put the information in the search hint table.
You need to think a bit on the different cases you have and how they can be broken up into small configurable pieces.
search_hint_1 table_1
search_hint_2 table_2
search_hint_3 table_1 table_2

Use Enumerator. Like :
private static enum DojoDecider {
search_hint_1(table_1),
search_hint_2(table_2);
private Table var;
private DojoDecider(Table var) {
this.var = var;
}
#SuppressWarnings("unused")
public Table getVar() {
return var;
}
}

final int[] hintArray = {search_hint_1, search_hint_2, search_hint_3};
final String[] tableArray = {table_1, table_2, table_3};
private Map<Integer,String> hintMap = new HashMap<Integer,String>();
// Populate the map, probably at onCreate() of your activity
for(int i=0; i<hintArray.length; i++) {
hintMap.put(hintArray[i], tableArray[i]);
}
// When you want to get it
useTable(hintMap.get(search_hint));

Related

Is this a reasonable data structure to store Controllers?

I think the code is quite self explanatory, but essentially I want to store BoxControllers in my DiagramController so that they can be moved/removed/edited. The DiagramController is essentially the parent of the BoxControllers. Every BoxController has a reference to one Box.
The Box class is comparable with other Boxes by comparing their UIDs, which may be a better key for the Map than the Box itself.
I am not looking for advice on anything other than the way I am storing my BoxControllers; in a Map<Box, BoxController>. However if you have other advice I'm happy to hear it.
public class DiagramController {
private final Map<Box, BoxController> boxControllers = new TreeMap<>();
DiagramController(Diagram diagram) {
diagram.boxRemovedObservable.subscribe(boxControllers::remove);
diagram.boxAddedObservable.subscribe((box) -> boxControllers.put(box, new BoxController(box)));
}
}

Java class: limit instance variable to one of several possible values, depending on other instance variables

I am sorry for the vague question. I am not sure what I'm looking for here.
I have a Java class, let's call it Bar. In that class is an instance variable, let's call it foo. foo is a String.
foo cannot just have any value. There is a long list of strings, and foo must be one of them.
Then, for each of those strings in the list I would like the possibility to set some extra conditions as to whether that specific foo can belong in that specific type of Bar (depending on other instance variables in that same Bar).
What approach should I take here? Obviously, I could put the list of strings in a static class somewhere and upon calling setFoo(String s) check whether s is in that list. But that would not allow me to check for extra conditions - or I would need to put all that logic for every value of foo in the same method, which would get ugly quickly.
Is the solution to make several hundred classes for every possible value of foo and insert in each the respective (often trivial) logic to determine what types of Bar it fits? That doesn't sound right either.
What approach should I take here?
Here's a more concrete example, to make it more clear what I am looking for. Say there is a Furniture class, with a variable material, which can be lots of things, anything from mahogany to plywood. But there is another variable, upholstery, and you can make furniture containing cotton of plywood but not oak; satin furniture of oak but not walnut; other types of fabric go well with any material; et cetera.
I wouldn't suggest creating multiple classes/templates for such a big use case. This is very opinion based but I'll take a shot at answering as best as I can.
In such a case where your options can be numerous and you want to keep a maintainable code base, the best solution is to separate the values and the logic. I recommend that you store your foo values in a database. At the same time, keep your client code as clean and small as possible. So that it doesn't need to filter through the data to figure out which data is valid. You want to minimize dependency to data in your code. Think of it this way: tomorrow you might need to add a new material to your material list. Do you want to modify all your code for that? Or do you want to just add it to your database and everything magically works? Obviously the latter is a better option. Here is an example on how to design such a system. Of course, this can vary based on your use case or variables but it is a good guideline. The basic rule of thumb is: your code should have as little dependency to data as possible.
Let's say you want to create a Bar which has to have a certain foo. In this case, I would create a database for BARS which contains all the possible Bars. Example:
ID NAME FOO
1 Door 1,4,10
I will also create a database FOOS which contains the details of each foo. For example:
ID NAME PROPERTY1 PROPERTY2 ...
1 Oak Brown Soft
When you create a Bar:
Bar door = new Bar(Bar.DOOR);
in the constructor you would go to the BARS table and query the foos. Then you would query the FOOS table and load all the material and assign them to the field inside your new object.
This way whenever you create a Bar the material can be changed and loaded from DB without changing any code. You can add as many types of Bar as you can and change material properties as you goo. Your client code however doesn't change much.
You might ask why do we create a database for FOOS and refer to it's ids in the BARS table? This way, you can modify the properties of each foo as much as you want. Also you can share foos between Bars and vice versa but you only need to change the db once. cross referencing becomes a breeze. I hope this example explains the idea clearly.
You say:
Is the solution to make several hundred classes for every possible
value of foo and insert in each the respective (often trivial) logic
to determine what types of Bar it fits? That doesn't sound right
either.
Why not have separate classes for each type of Foo? Unless you need to define new types of Foo without changing the code you can model them as plain Java classes. You can go with enums as well but it does not really give you any advantage since you still need to update the enum when adding a new type of Foo.
In any case here is type safe approach that guarantees compile time checking of your rules:
public static interface Material{}
public static interface Upholstery{}
public static class Oak implements Material{}
public static class Plywood implements Material{}
public static class Cotton implements Upholstery{}
public static class Satin implements Upholstery{}
public static class Furniture<M extends Material, U extends Upholstery>{
private M matrerial = null;
private U upholstery = null;
public Furniture(M matrerial, U upholstery){
this.matrerial = matrerial;
this.upholstery = upholstery;
}
public M getMatrerial() {
return matrerial;
}
public U getUpholstery() {
return upholstery;
}
}
public static Furniture<Plywood, Cotton> cottonFurnitureWithPlywood(Plywood plywood, Cotton cotton){
return new Furniture<>(plywood, cotton);
}
public static Furniture<Oak, Satin> satinFurnitureWithOak(Oak oak, Satin satin){
return new Furniture<>(oak, satin);
}
It depends on what you really want to achieve. Creating objects and passing them around will not magically solve your domain-specific problems.
If you cannot think of any real behavior to add to your objects (except the validation), then it might make more sense to just store your data and read them into memory whenever you want. Even treat rules as data.
Here is an example:
public class Furniture {
String name;
Material material;
Upholstery upholstery;
//getters, setters, other behavior
public Furniture(String name, Material m, Upholstery u) {
//Read rule files from memory or disk and do all the checks
//Do not instantiate if validation does not pass
this.name = name;
material = m;
upholstery = u;
}
}
To specify rules, you will then create three plain text files (e.g. using csv format). File 1 will contain valid values for material, file 2 will contain valid values for upholstery, and file 3 will have a matrix format like the following:
upholstery\material plywood mahogany oak
cotton 1 0 1
satin 0 1 0
to check if a material goes with an upholstery or not, just check the corresponding row and column.
Alternatively, if you have lots of data, you can opt for a database system along with an ORM. Rule tables then can be join tables and come with extra nice features a DBMS may provide (like easy checking for duplicate values). The validation table could look something like:
MaterialID UpholsteryID Compatability_Score
plywood cotton 1
oak satin 0
The advantage of using this approach is that you quickly get a working application and you can decide what to do as you add new behavior to your application. And even if it gets way more complex in the future (new rules, new data types, etc) you can use something like the repository pattern to keep your data and business logic decoupled.
Notes about Enums:
Although the solution suggested by #Igwe Kalu solves the specific case described in the question, it is not scalable. What if you want to find what material goes with a given upholstery (the reverse case)? You will need to create another enum which does not add anything meaningful to the program, or add complex logic to your application.
This is a more detailed description of the idea I threw out there in the comment:
Keep Furniture a POJO, i.e., just hold the data, no behavior or rules implemented in it.
Implement the rules in separate classes, something along the lines of:
interface FurnitureRule {
void validate(Furniture furniture) throws FurnitureRuleException;
}
class ValidMaterialRule implements FurnitureRule {
// this you can load in whatever way suitable in your architecture -
// from enums, DB, an XML file, a JSON file, or inject via Spring, etc.
private Set<String> validMaterialNames;
#Overload
void validate(Furniture furniture) throws FurnitureRuleException {
if (!validMaterialNames.contains(furniture.getMaterial()))
throws new FurnitureRuleException("Invalid material " + furniture.getMaterial());
}
}
class UpholsteryRule implements FurnitureRule {
// Again however suitable to implement/config this
private Map<String, Set<String>> validMaterialsPerUpholstery;
#Overload
void validate(Furniture furniture) throws FurnitureRuleException {
Set<String> validMaterialNames = validMaterialsPerUpholstery.get(furniture.getUpholstery();
if (validMaterialNames != null && !validMaterialNames.contains(furniture.getMaterial()))
throws new FurnitureRuleException("Invalid material " + furniture.getMaterial() + " for upholstery " + furniture.getUpholstery());
}
}
// and more complex rules if you need to
Then have some service along the lines of FurnitureManager. It's the "gatekeeper" for all Furniture creation/updates:
class FurnitureManager {
// configure these via e.g. Spring.
private List<FurnitureRule> rules;
public void updateFurniture(Furniture furniture) throws FurnitureRuleException {
rules.forEach(rule -> rule.validate(furniture))
// proceed to persist `furniture` in the database or whatever else you do with a valid piece of furniture.
}
}
material should be of type Enum.
public enum Material {
MAHOGANY,
TEAK,
OAK,
...
}
Furthermore you can have a validator for Furniture that contains the logic which types of Furniture make sense, and then call that validator in every method that can change the material or upholstery variable (typically only your setters).
public class Furniture {
private Material material;
private Upholstery upholstery; //Could also be String depending on your needs of course
public void setMaterial(Material material) {
if (FurnitureValidator.isValidCombination(material, this.upholstery)) {
this.material = material;
}
}
...
private static class FurnitureValidator {
private static boolean isValidCombination(Material material, Upholstery upholstery) {
switch(material) {
case MAHOGANY: return upholstery != Upholstery.COTTON;
break;
//and so on
}
}
}
}
We often are oblivious of the power inherent in enum types. The Java™ Tutorials clearly states "you should use enum types any time you need to represent a fixed set of constants."
How do you simply make the best of enum in resolving the challenge you presented? - Here goes:
public enum Material {
MAHOGANY( "satin", "velvet" ),
PLYWOOD( "leather" ),
// possibly many other materials and their matching fabrics...
OAK( "some other fabric - 0" ),
WALNUT( "some other fabric - 0", "some other fabric - 1" );
private final String[] listOfSuitingFabrics;
Material( String... fabrics ) {
this.listOfSuitingFabrics = fabrics;
}
String[] getListOfSuitingFabrics() {
return Arrays.copyOf( listOfSuitingFabrics );
}
public String toString() {
return name().substring( 0, 1 ) + name().substring( 1 );
}
}
Let's test it:
public class TestMaterial {
for ( Material material : Material.values() ) {
System.out.println( material.toString() + " go well with " + material.getListOfSuitingFabrics() );
}
}
Probably the approach I'd use (because it involves the least amount of code and it's reasonably fast) is to "flatten" the hierarchical logic into a one-dimensional Set of allowed value combinations. Then when setting one of the fields, validate that the proposed new combination is valid. I'd probably just use a Set of concatenated Strings for simplicity. For the example you give above, something like this:
class Furniture {
private String wood;
private String upholstery;
/**
* Set of all acceptable values, with each combination as a String.
* Example value: "plywood:cotton"
*/
private static final Set<String> allowed = new HashSet<>();
/**
* Load allowed values in initializer.
*
* TODO: load allowed values from DB or config file
* instead of hard-wiring.
*/
static {
allowed.add("plywood:cotton");
...
}
public void setWood(String wood) {
if (!allowed.contains(wood + ":" + this.upholstery)) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("bad combination of materials!");
}
this.wood = wood;
}
public void setUpholstery(String upholstery) {
if (!allowed.contains(this.wood + ":" + upholstery)) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("bad combination of materials!");
}
this.upholstery = upholstery;
}
public void setMaterials(String wood, String upholstery) {
if (!allowed.contains(wood + ":" + upholstery)) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("bad combination of materials!");
}
this.wood = wood;
this.upholstery = upholstery;
}
// getters
...
}
The disadvantage of this approach compared to other answers is that there is no compile-time type checking. For example, if you try to set the wood to plywoo instead of plywood you won’t know about your error until runtime. In practice this disadvantage is negligible since presumably the options will be chosen by a user through a UI (or through some other means), so you won’t know what they are until runtime anyway. Plus the big advantage is that the code will never have to be changed so long as you’re willing to maintain a list of allowed combinations externally. As someone with 30 years of development experience, take my word for it that this approach is far more maintainable.
With the above code, you'll need to use setMaterials before using setWood or setUpholstery, since the other field will still be null and therefore not an allowed combination. You can initialize the class's fields with default materials to avoid this if you want.

Re/Create an immutable object that contains an immutable object list

Background
I am trying to create an immutable object that contains a list of immutable objects, as well as object type totals within the list.
I created a slightly sudo gist to try and show what I mean.
Gist - Adjusting an immutable object that contains an immutable object list.
Explanation
My example shows how I'm currently doing it, it does work. However not for all cases.
My VeggieCartView will have a recyclerview that gets filled with a new/saved VeggieCart.
Each VeggieCart has a list of veggies. Veggie totals etc...
I then have a helper class VeggieChanger, it contains an rx.Consumer<Veggie[]> that gets set and accepts any 1:1 veggie changes from the veggie views.
The VeggieCartView sets the consumer so when any one veggie changes, it creates an updated cart using the changes' corresponding cart factory method. The adapter is used to change/retrieve its list.
Working and not
This works well for changing one at a time, however batching changes is throwing concurrency exceptions.
I realize my gist is not runnable and doesn't show most boilerplate, and that I may be fundamentally wrong with some or all of my approaches. With that said I still hope someone can give me advice on how to better implement what I'm trying to do.
If more information is needed to understand, please ask. Thank you for anybody who does have help to offer,
Jon.
I ended up figuring out my main issue.
By adding this to my VeggieCartView:
public void bagAllCanned() {
final Veggie[] canned = new Veggie[cart.canTotal()];
final Veggie[] bagged = new Veggie[canned.length];
int t = 0;
final List<Veggie> veggies = cart.veggies();
for (int i = 0; i < veggies.size(); i++) {
final Veggie veggie = veggies.get(i);
if (veggie.canned()) {
canned[t] = veggie;
if (veggie instanceof Potato)
bagged[t] = Potato.can(veggie);
else if (veggie instanceof Tomato)
bagged[t] = Tomato.can(veggie);
t++;
}
}
for (int i = 0; i < canned.length; i++) {
veggieChange(canned[i], bagged[i]);
}
}
It fixes the concurrency errors.
I'm still unsure if my approach is correct or not. So even though the question is mostly answered, opinions are still VERY welcome.

Oracle ADF When Selecting Multiple Rows, RowSetIterator Does Not Populate on First Method Invocation

Uncertain how best to word the title, but here's the gist.
The goal is to retrieve all selected rows of a table and manipulate them. The problem I'm bumping into is that the RowSetIterator doesn't get populated the first time the method within my backing bean is invoked. It does get populated when invoked a second time.
How do I go about getting it to work properly on the first invocation?
Doubtless I'm not being perfectly clear, please let me know if you require any additional information. Here's a snippet of the bean method:
public String deleteSelectedQueries()
{
JSFUtils.addInformationMessage("Delete");
RowKeySet selectedQueries =
getSavedQueriesByUserTable().getSelectedRowKeys();
Iterator selectedQueriesIter = selectedQueries.iterator();
DCBindingContainer bindings =
(DCBindingContainer) BindingContext.getCurrent().getCurrentBindingsEntry();
DCIteratorBinding savedQueriesByUserIter =
bindings.findIteratorBinding("SavedQueriesByUserROVOIterator");
RowSetIterator savedQueriesByUserRowSetIterator =
savedQueriesByUserIter.getRowSetIterator();
while (selectedQueriesIter.hasNext())
{
Key key = (Key) ((List) selectedQueriesIter.next()).get(0);
Row currentRow = savedQueriesByUserRowSetIterator.getRow(key);
System.out.println(currentRow.getAttribute("QueryName"));
}
return null;
}
}
Any ideas?
Thanks!
This code looks good to me.
The problem may come from <af:table> tag, make sure you have these tags removed:
selectedRowKeys="#{bindings.SavedQueriesByUserROVO.collectionModel.selectedRow}"
selectionListener="#{bindings.SavedQueriesByUserROVO.collectionModel.makeCurrent}"

How to get multiple selected rows in a table or indexedcontainer?

I have a Table whose DataSource is set to a IndexedContainer. I also have multiple selection enabled on my Table. The Question is, how do I get all the selected values.. as an array perhaps?
My IndexedContainer:
private void populateAnalyteTable () {
Analyte[] analytes = Analyte.getAnalytes();
for (Analyte analyte : analytes) {
Object id = ic_analytes.addItem();
ic_analytes.getContainerProperty(id, "ID").setValue(analyte.getId());
ic_analytes.getContainerProperty(id, "Analyte Name").setValue(analyte.getAnalyteName());
}
// Bind indexed container to table
tbl_analytes.setContainerDataSource(ic_analytes);
}
What I'm eventually trying to get is an array of Analyte objects
Why do you want to use IndexContainer? Why don't you use BeanItemCotainer?
Please find the snippet of code below
table.setMultiSelect(true);
BeanItemContainer<Analyte> container = new BeanItemContainer<Analyte>(Analyte.class);
container.addAll(Arrays.asList(Analyte.getAnalytes()));
table.setContainerDatasource(container);
// Add some Properties of Analyte class that you want to be shown to user
table.setVisibleColumns(new Object[]{"ID","Analyte Name"});
//User selects Multiple Values, mind you this is an Unmodifiable Collection
Set<Analyte> selectedValues = (Set<Analyte>)table.getValue();
Please let me know in case it doesn't solve the issue
The vaadin objects supporting MultiSelect all return a set of the selected items.
https://www.vaadin.com/api/com/vaadin/ui/AbstractSelect.html#getValue%28%29
The drawback of this, if you need the selected items in "real" order (as displayed onscreen)
you will then have to find them from the Set to the Container
Just add your object as the Item-ID, like luuksen already propesed. Just change the initialisation of yout IndexedContainer to:
for (Analyte analyte : analytes) {
Object id = ic_analytes.addItem(analyte);
ic_analytes.getContainerProperty(id, "ID").setValue(analyte.getId());
ic_analytes.getContainerProperty(id, "Analyte Name").setValue(analyte.getAnalyteName());
}
table.getValue() is what you are looking for.
This method gives you an Object (if table is single select) or a Set<Object> (if multiselect) of the ID(s) of selected item(s). Runtime type depends on runtime id type, but if you do not need the value you can go around with Object .
If you are looking for Analytes as an array you can do
#SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
Set<Object> selectedIds = (Set<Object>) tbl_analytes.getValue();
List<Analyte> listAnalytes = new ArrayList<Analyte>();
for (Object id : selectedIds) {
listAnalytes.get(tbl_analytes.getItem(id));
}
listAnalytes.toArray();
Note that this approach works with every standard container you may use in Vaadin.
Regards!
EDIT: actually what .getValue() returns depends on the used container. In most of the cases it's the ID.

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